Diary entry in winter vacation in village
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The past three weeks have involved a whole mess of travel — to and from Chicago, amongst its far-flung suburbs to visit various in-laws, into and out of the city; and to and from central Pennsylvania, where my family lives. There was much family togetherness (much appreciated!) and, consequently, a little less time for reading than I had anticipated. Nevertheless, I did manage to find time to enjoy the new “Logistics” issue of Cabinet (which included a great piece by Clare Lyster and an interview with Nancy Pope, the Smithsonian’s Historian and Curator of Postal History), the new issue of Log, and Terry Belanger’s Lunacy and the Arrangement of Books. I also archived a bunch of October, Critical Inquiry, and Artforum articles I’d read over the past few months, and dug into Anne Burdick et. al.’s excellent Digital Humanities (which, even though I’m only a third of the way into it, seems like something I’ll be using in my future classes).
Plus, I reread McLuhan’s Understanding Media — both because my husband had planned to read it with me, so he could learn more about media studies, and because I was invited to write a piece, for the book’s 50th anniversary in 2014, on my initial impressions of the text and how it has (if it has) informed my research and teaching. I finished that essay last night; I decided to focus on how my evolving feelings about McLuhan — and the whole ecological approach to media studies — have paralleled my own coming-to-terms with the fact that “formalism” needn’t be a dirty word.
Speaking of forms: while in PA I spent some time with my dad in the workshop, making two new end tables for our apartment in Brooklyn. We modified (read: simplified, since we had less than a day to complete everything) a Thomas Moser design. I did the dovetailing, and my dad, because he works way faster than me, did everything else. I recalled just how much I like working with chisels and thought, again, that I really should buy some woodshop time at 3rd Ward or Gowanus Studio Space or something like that.
Plus, I reread McLuhan’s Understanding Media — both because my husband had planned to read it with me, so he could learn more about media studies, and because I was invited to write a piece, for the book’s 50th anniversary in 2014, on my initial impressions of the text and how it has (if it has) informed my research and teaching. I finished that essay last night; I decided to focus on how my evolving feelings about McLuhan — and the whole ecological approach to media studies — have paralleled my own coming-to-terms with the fact that “formalism” needn’t be a dirty word.
Speaking of forms: while in PA I spent some time with my dad in the workshop, making two new end tables for our apartment in Brooklyn. We modified (read: simplified, since we had less than a day to complete everything) a Thomas Moser design. I did the dovetailing, and my dad, because he works way faster than me, did everything else. I recalled just how much I like working with chisels and thought, again, that I really should buy some woodshop time at 3rd Ward or Gowanus Studio Space or something like that.
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